he _nails_ javascript (referred to as ES in quote):

Can we please finally just accept that ES is much more than just a browser extensibility tool? For most developers, this is their first exposure to a classless prototype-based object-oriented language, and unfortunately, most developers don't ever bother exploring it beyond "How do I make my web page do that floating image thing...?" Gah.

no, i don't _really_ know the platform or langauge (unix/c)..

I'm 1/4th of the way through this article and confused already... Steve writes:

I never managed to use XEmacs for very long, because it crashed a lot

but then

XEmacs doesn't crash any more often than Firefox

and

XEmacs may crash even less than Eclipse and IntelliJ

For me Firefox and Eclipse are rock solid. So what is it? Does "a lot" mean every 6 months? Or every day?

Once or twice a week. Did you catch the part where he said he likes to maintain perpetual sessions? When you leave apps open indefinitely, they are more prone to crash I think.

> so only download it if you need it > This dataset may be removed in the next week or so

the latter cancels the former.

> All this ridiculous programmer-celebrity blogging echo-chamber bullshit results in very little software being built

or how about, "blogging results in very little software being built".. i never understand how anyone has time to actually code when all they do is write blog entries about writing code...

It's easy. Do you really have 18 hours a day of time when you're focused on programming? I don't, but I can write in the downtime.

I enjoy educating people, so I try to blog about what I'm working on, and other projects that my readers might be interested in.

This is a silly line of reasoning. By your own argument, you shouldn't have made your own argument, as it probably has not resulted in any code being written.

So nyeeeeeeeeeeeah.

unless you just want to _quickly_ package some files, use tar, skip the compression.

no because i don't know how to pronounce 'xobni'

Zob-nee

I'm in the same boat, right now working towards calculus, running through an algebra review. The big problem I have with some of the "classic" texts (and wikipedia/mathworld) is that they go way over my head very quickly, usually due to my lack of knowledge regarding the nomenclature and symbols of math. Or that I lack the basic knowledge to understand why an equation can transform from state a -> b. I've found that the Barron's College Review series (on algebra and calculus) to be easy to digest. I'm also using Algebra & Trigonometry by Sullivan as a reference for issues that are fuzzy in the Barron's book. I also plan on visiting sets, graphs and logic.